The present invention relates to a fishing rod support rack, and more particularly to a fishing rod support rack for mounting to a wall and for removably supporting a plurality of fishing rods uprightly.
Fishing rod storage racks are well-known in the prior art. The known racks typically support fishing rods in horizontal positions, stacked one on top of another. To do that, the known racks typically comprise a pair of lateral sides that are spaced horizontally apart and that extend vertically between upper and lower edges. Those lateral sides have rear edges for mounting to a wall, and extend forwardly to front edges. The front edges are formed with cradles, coordinated in pairs as between the two lateral sides, and each cradle has surface portions on which fishing rods can be removably supported.
The fishing rod support rack of the present invention is an improvement over the fishing rod storage racks of the prior art. The advantages of the present invention include the advantage that the fishing rods are supported in the upright position. In addition, this fishing rod support rack is made of rather inexpensive small diameter metal wire elements welded together. Furthermore, this fishing rod support rack comprises a pair of independent frames, one upper and the other lower, both of which have a main wire formed in a continuous hoop, with several other subordinate wires welded thereto, the frames gaining manufacturing simplicity therefrom. The continuous hoops of the present invention provide the two frames with the normally incongruous virtues of being strong, lightweight, inexpensive to fabricate and convenient to handle and install by one person. The virtue of being lightweight further results in this fishing rod support rack costing little to ship. It can also be packaged in a compact cardboard box for merchandising, warehousing and handling by a consumer. These and more advantages are provided by the present invention without sacrificing appearance or durability.
In accordance with the present invention, a fishing rod support rack has upper and lower wire frames. The lower frame comprises a continuous wire hoop, a wire shelf assembly welded to the continuous hoop, and a plurality of bent wire loops that are spaced above the shelf assembly and are also welded to the continuous hoop. The continuous hoop is laterally elongated (left to right). It has L-shaped sides that are spaced horizontally apart and that have horizontal and vertical segments joined together at right angles. The continuous hoop further has both an upper rear segment and a lower front segment extending horizontally between the L-shaped sides. The shelf assembly comprises a plurality of parallel wires that extend between and have opposite ends welded to those horizontal segments. The shelf assembly provides upper surface portions on which the butt ends of the fishing rods can be removably supported. The bent wire loops have rear ends welded to the upper rear segment. The bent wire loops further include forward ends that are bent to define openings for removably receiving the butt ends of fishing rods therethrough, and that have surface portions for engaging the grips of the fishing rods. The loops are selectively spaced apart, thereby providing clearance among the removably supported fishing rods for their attached fishing reels.
Turning now to the upper frame, it comprises a continuous wire hoop welded together with a plurality of bent wire loops. The continuous hoop of the upper frame is laterally elongated like the continuous hoop of the lower frame. It has a pair of left and right segments horizontally spaced by upper and lower segments that are several times longer than the left and right segments. The loops of the upper frame have rear ends welded to the upper segment. The loops further include front ends that are bent to define openings for removably receiving the tip ends of fishing rods therethrough, and that have surface portions for removably engaging the walls of the tip ends of fishing rods, thereby providing the fishing rods with support to stand uprightly.
For use, the upper and lower frames can be attached to a wall in such vertically spaced relation that the loops of the upper frame are generally aligned directly above the loops of the lower frame.